


A Mess Rectified

by Penny_Quill



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, I guess it's kind of AU but not really, Just fixing that mess of an episode really, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-15
Updated: 2016-11-16
Packaged: 2018-08-31 06:52:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8568505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Penny_Quill/pseuds/Penny_Quill
Summary: Not normally a fan of non-canon compliant fics but that last episode was a travesty and needs fixing. In other words this is my passive aggressive way of showing emmerdale writers that you can still craft the story you want without unpicking character development.
Based on the Robert Rebecca fiasco and the spoilers for next week.





	1. What should have happened

“We make a good team, we always have”.

 “What do you think I’ve been trying to tell you”. 

 Rebecca shifted her eyes upwards trying to gage if now was the right time to shoot. It wasn’t.

 “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Robert barked angrily, leaping away from the sofa at the touch of her lips to his, wiping his face down in disgust. He felt dirty and unclean his mouth stunk of betrayal.

 “Just what we know we both want?” the women teased, her sophisticated vowels rolling of the tongue as she moved closer towards Robert placing a hand on his chest. They were now both uncomfortably close to being backed up against a wall.

 Robert’s eyes widened with disbelief, glaring down at his ex’s carefully resting hand, “It might be what you want but it’s sure as hell not what I want”, he pushed her away gently and walked towards the door, “I think you better leave now before Aaron gets home”.

 “What on earth is going on in here”, a third voice called from outside their field of vision, it was Diane, _Great ‘cause that’s all I need right now_ Robert thought.

 “Deny it all you want”, Rebecca continued, seemingly unfazed by Diane who was now stood in the middle of the doorway, “But we _all_ know what kind of man you really are”, waltzing out the door with an, “excuse me Diane”.

 “Do I need to ask what that was about?” Robert’s already riled up step-mother asked him.

 “No, it was nothing, look just go Diane, what do you want?”

 “You have kept too many secrets from me son, I’m not gonna let you keep another”, she declared angrily.

 “Look it was nothing, she came onto me and as you can see I told her to do one, I’m not having the best of days so can you please just leave”, Robert was clearly flustered by what had just happened so Dian decided not to push it and promptly left.

 

 As soon as Aaron got home he could tell something was off, he came through the door with his usual mumblings about his day and gave him a quick peck on the forehead, he knew he’d been a bit off with him before and he wished he’d cut him a break, what with it being so close to the anniversary of Sandra’s death, so he was trying to just forget about it. But Robert didn’t even move, he was just sat gazing out into oblivion on the sofa, nursing a drink in his hand (clearly not his first) manoeuvring the glass in his fingers so that the liquid inside swirled up and around to the edges. At first he thought it was just the anniversary, that was until he saw the half empty partner glass left on the coffee table.

 “Who was here?” He asked, trying not to sound accusatory.

 “Rebecca”, Robert hissed with a giggle escaping his lips as the ‘a’ parted from his tongue. Aaron was as angry as he was shocked, not that Robert had drunk with Rebecca that he’d been so honest about it.

 “I told you to stay away from her”.

 “You were right”.

 “What”

 “You heard what I said”. It wasn’t that Aaron hadn’t heard him it was the speed in which Robert admitted it, the only time he did that was when he knew he was in the wrong.

 "What have you done?”

 “Nothing, except be stupid enough to think she’d grown up”.

 “Okay I’ll rephrase, what as she done?”, the sarcastic antipathy bleached through Aaron’s voice.

 “She kissed me”, Robert confessed with an unsuitable level of calm, taking another considerable swig of his drink, making it entirely plausible even probable that this calm was a result of a liberal dosage of liquid courage.

 “You did what?” Aaron growled rising from his perch scratching his beard with his nails, “I can’t believe you, after everything we talked about!”

 “Hey”, Robert began to yell, standing to join his fiancé, “I told her to get out as soon as I realised what she was doing, ask Diane if you don’t believe me, she caught the back end of it all, doubt I’ll ever live that down”.

 “Oh ‘cause it’s all about you isn’t it”, snapped Aaron.

 “All about me is it?” it wasn't just words Robert's entire body had moved from defensive to angry, fists clenched and fingers pointed, “Tell me if this was all about me, why would I even bring her back here? Eh? If all I cared about was myself why not just leave Andy on the run, Hell why not just hand him over to the police let him rot in jail. Come on tell me?” The volume had been raised significantly and Aaron just stood their dumbfounded with nothing to say, eyes glued to his stationary shuffling feet. 

 “I don’t know”, Aaron admitted quietly after one too many moments of silence.

 “Exactly, I have to go put flowers on my mothers grave tomorrow, it was always Andy who dealt with all that stuff and I’m not gonna leave it to Vic. I might have hated him sometimes and God knows he had the right to hate me, but he’s my brother. Once upon a time he was my friend and even if I can’t get him his life back I owe him justice, even if it’s just for this”, Robert fell back down onto the sofa, quiet as he bathed in his bottled up anger, so Aaron joined him apprehensively.

 “I know”, was all Aaron could muster.

 “And now I’ve gone and ruined it all”.

 “What do you mean?”

 “Well I lost it at her didn’t I, as much as she tried to play it cool I know she’ll be angry. Bex has a bad habit of never getting what she wants”.

 “That’s not your fault”.

 “It is in her mind”, Robert sighed trying to decide how to word his next move, “She thinks that if I’d picked her over Chrissie then we’d be married living the life she always wanted, power couple of the generation in her mind. And honestly, not sure she’d be wrong”.

 “What!” For the second time that night Aaron was as shocked as he was angry.

 “No hear me out”, Robert pleaded and took Aaron’s silence as a cue to continue, “We probably would be, I only really picked Chrissie ‘cause I thought she’d be easier to keep, I always got on more with Bex we had more in common and yeah maybe we’d be as close to happy as people like that ever could be”.

 “What do you mean?”, his tone had changed to one of intrigue over Robert’s closing statement.

 “Well you remember me back then, I was awful, horrible, the only person I would have done anything like this”, Robert said waving his hands in the air indicating the knotted web he had manage to entangle himself and his loved ones in, “was me. That’s what me and Rebecca had in common and she’s still that person, when I brought her here I forgot that I might have been the only one who’d changed. That’s why I love you”, he declared, “you don’t make me a better person, you made me want to be a better person. Everyone else in my life has always expected the worse from me, never thought I was worthy of expecting anything else of. But you, you expected better and you made me realise that I could be. All Bex ever did was validate my own selfishness, that’s why I love you and that’s why no one else could ever come close”. It wasn’t often that Robert poured his heart out but it seemed to be happening more and more these days and Aaron was all for it, smiling to conceal a tear he pulled Robert in for a kiss, nothing much just a small soft kiss. One that doesn’t last long but the aftermath seems like forever just sat there hands on necks foreheads pressed together before you finally breath and fall back into each others arms.

 “So you’re not mad?” Robert asked his head buried in the crook of Aaron’s neck.

 “Oh no I’m mad, like you said you’re an idiot”, he paused looking down at the grown man in his arms, “but I love you too”.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robert and Aaron are woken up to confusion as the police make a visit to Home Farm

**Bang, Bang, Bang,** over and over again. It had been nearly a week since Robert’s unwanted indiscretion but right now that was the last thing on Aaron’s mind. It was only just gone seven and the two men had been awake less than half an hour, so when the knocking (which in Aaron’s opinion was too weak of a word) had started they had decided to ignore it, it was too early to be a delivery for the pub so whatever it was could wait, “If it’s the police they’ll just knock down the door”, Robert had groggily joked whilst Aaron nuzzled himself further into his chest.

 Chas had been out early doors to meet with a supplier and she was the only person who would’ve normally answered it, Robert and Aaron had ruled themselves out on this occasion and Liv or Charity certainly weren’t going to do it were they. 

 “I’m gonna jump in the shower”, Robert said giving Aaron a peck before hoping out of bed making a bee line for the bathroom, “better get in there before Liv does”, as a fourteen year old girl she had a tendency to spend significantly more time than necessary in the bathroom every morning, “get that door will you, they’re gonna wake half the village up”.

 Robert was right they’d been going a good ten minutes and they didn’t seem to be tiring any time soon, so Aaron dragged himself out of bed and ached his way to the door.

 “What the hell took you so long”, yelled Vic’s perky voice as soon as Aaron had twisted the handle, “I could have found a set of keys quicker than that”.

 “Vic what you doing here”, Aaron groaned, “I thought it was your day off, besides it’s seven in the morning?”

 “Where’s Robert”, his soon to be sister-in-law went on apparently ignoring him and coming straight past him into the house.

 “He’s in the shower”. This information didn’t seem to slow her down as she practically jogged her way to the bathroom door flinging it open.

 “What the hell!” Robert screamed as soon as the door opened and he was confronted with his little sister seeing him in all his glory, “I told you that lock was bloody useless!”, he yelled, turing his attention to Aaron who didn’t know if to laugh or be angry as Robert scrambled for a towel water still spraying everywhere as he tried to preserve his dignity, “Go on, I take it there’s a good reason you interrupted me in the shower?”

 

 “What do you mean he’s been arrested?” Robert couldn’t seem to believe what he was being told.

 “Lachlan, he's been arrested”, she explained, “Sam was up there early hours this morning and the place was covered with police, and they told him they’d arrested Lachlan, something about a new witness”.

 “To what, Lawrence was shot inside the house?” Aaron asked.

 “I don’t know that's all they told him, Diane’s up at the station now”.

 Robert quickly got dressed so him and Liv could go and meet Diane there, Aaron reluctantly stayed behind as there was no way in hell Liv would be making it to school if left to her own devices and the last thing they needed was a call from her form tutor again. Even if Aaron had argued that one day wouldn't do her any harm.

 “Look can you just tell me what’s going on”, Robert impatiently asked the desk sergeant.

 “Sorry sir but I can only release that kind of information to family”.

 “Well you were technically his step-dad”, Vic muttered under her breath clearly no more patient than Robert or Diane.

 “Shut up Vic”, the elder sibling shot back. 

 “Look”, Diane called across the station joining Robert at the desk, “My step-son was framed by that little snake, we have a right to know what’s going on”.

 “Ma'am, I’m going to have to ask you to calm down or leave”.

 “Come on Diane it’s not worth it”, Robert told her, guiding them both back to their seats.

 “Where’re Chrissie and Lawrence, wouldn’t they be here?” whispered Vic although it still seemed to echo through the sparse police station.

 “Probably scrambling with their lawyers”, Robert chuckled.

 “Mr Sugden”, a detective said.

 “Yeah”, Robert replied jumping to stand bolt upright and shake the man’s hand.

 “It’s a good job you’re here can I ask you a few questions”.

 

The sharply dressed, greyed haired man led them to a shrunken interview room with a dented metal chair and table set that Robert was instructed to sit at, “I’m not in any trouble am I”, he enquired, unsure of the nature of this little chat he was about to have.

 “No, no, I just wanted to talk to you away from your family, they’ve been quite vocal since the Whites came under suspicion”.

 “Yeah sorry about Diane”, God how Robert wished she’d never found out, she could yell names at him all she wanted, call him selfish and so on but everything had been going fine until she found out and within a week she’d been arrested and threatened with eviction.

 “Of course sometimes it's hard to make the distinction”.

 “Sorry?”

 “Between your family and the Whites, I mean it’s quite a mess. You were married to Lachlan’s mother, Chrissie only for her to end up sleeping with your brother. Even your step-sister Bernice was married to your former farther-in-law”.

 “It’s a small village”.

 “So I take it you knew Lachlan well, what was he like?”

 “I don’t know, always seemed a bit troubled but always figured he was harmless, guess I might have been wrong”, it sometimes worried Robert how cool he could become under pressure, never quite knowing how far her could push it.

 “So you wouldn’t put it past him, that he’d shoot his own Granddad?”

 “Suppose not, so come on, you’re not talking to me ‘cause Diane’s twisted your arm what’s this new evidence I’ve heard about?”

 “A witness came forward claiming they saw Lachlan disposing of evidence in the stream he was caught supposedly fishing his watch out of”. Robert could tell the detective hadn’t quite sussed out who's side he was on yet, blurred family lines and all that. He’d have to be mad to think that Robert would help them.


End file.
